Nostalgia
I’m Nostalgic for a better RPG
Tags: Nostalgia Categories: DS Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Nov 17th, 2009
Nostalgia had a lot going for it - a steampunk role-playing game for a handheld sounds like a recipe for addictive greatness. Handheld RPGs, if crafted properly, can take on the connotations of a good novel, grabbing you and not letting go until either exhaustion or the end. Sometimes both. They can also be a chore to grind through if not done well.
I even ignored their little Nostalgia word play, since the role playing genre has never gone anywhere. To imply that somehow a turn-based RPG was out of date is ludicrous. Nostalgic gaming is all the rage these days, with Square Enix rereleasing nearly everything they ever made. So a new IP (that’s intelectual property for those of you playing along at home) is nice, and steampunk implies an aesthetic of past futurism, but Nostalgia was a silly name choice.
The game looks great. The aesthetic is really well done. The world of adventurers and airships (blimps) comes straight out of the pages of pulp novels, or classic movie serials. It reminds me of the anime series Full Metal Alchemist the most, it helps that the main character Eddie is a blonde kid in a red trench coat. He is missing the metal arm though. The levels themselves are nicely designed, but they could have used some work in terms of expanding the need for exploration. The levels tend to be long twisting corridors with random encounters.
The random encounters get old fast. I am not opposed to the system; it is one of the main tenets of the genre going back to its inception. The problem I have here is that I just feel like I’m level grinding all the time. Even the bosses aren’t so much difficult as tedious. Combat as an obstacle is something every RPG’s need, even action RPG’s to some extent use this to pace the player through dungeons. The problem I have here is that it feels more like an obstacle course that consists of stepping over a string that’s about ankle high; it’s only a danger if you don’t bother paying attention.
Then there’s the writing problem. Listen I resigned myself to it long ago, video game dialog is bad, and generally you’re going to get stories told with types rather than real characters. (I’m glaring at you mopey guy with spiky hair and too-large sword.) What bothers me here is that it’s lacking any exposition. Characters join up with the party with no provocation, and what seems like a hidden agenda or strange occurrence is shrugged off and never revisited. The problem may be that the opening sequence to the game where Edward’s father rescue’s a princess is something straight out of Indiana Jones. The rest of the game plays like Indiana Jones fan fiction.
So Nostalgia is a by the book RPG with a cool setting. If there weren’t so many better games out there right now, it might be worth checking out. Even waiting for the bargain bin might be prudent. Running out to pick this up, don’t bother.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ The game looks great + Settings and world are really cool |
6.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Writing is boring and characters are stiff - Dialog is terrible |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Nostalgia could have been something worth noting, but in the end, there isn't anything here worth remembering. | |
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Tags: Nostalgia
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Nov 17th, 2009 and is filed under DS Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
